Julius Malema, the embattled head of South Africa's Youth League, has lost an
appeal for charges against him of sowing divisions in the ruling party to be
dropped.

Mr Malema appealed on the grounds that the charges were "politically motivated" and an attempt at silencing his increasingly vehement calls for mine and bank nationalisation and forced land reform.

But the ANC's disciplinary committee ruled yesterday that he should face "trial" by senior members of the party for his misdemeanours, which included criticising President Jacob Zuma and calling for regime change in neighbouring Botswana.

It also rejected his request for several members of the committee to be removed, including Susan Shabangu, the Mining Minister who has responded unenthusiastically to Mr Malema's nationalistion call.

If found guilty of the charges, Mr Malema could be cast into the political wilderness, allowing President Zuma to run for a second term as party president in 2012 and the country's president in 2014 unhindered by a political rival backed by the influential youth leader.

When the case against Mr Malema opened on Tuesday at the ANC's headquarters in central Johannesburg, there were violent scenes outside as his supporters threw bricks and bottles at police who responded with rubber bullets and water canons.

The protesters also made their feelings about Mr Zuma clear, by burning t-shirts with his image and holding up signs calling for his departure from office.

Commentators saw the display as an organised action to demonstrate Mr Malema's power.

But since then, all of the ANC's other coalition partners, including the trade union group Cosatu and the South African Communist Party, have come out against the youth league and condemned the violence.

Among his senior backers in the ANC, few have spoken out in his favour this week. A notable exception is Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Nelson Mandela's former wife and a member of the ANC's National Executive Committee, who described him as her "grandson".

“He is a rebel like all young youth. He is on a learning curve and he will be a great leader in the future,” she said.

Yesterday, Mr Malema's supporters - the impoverished and unemployed, black youths to whom his populist politics appeal most - continued to gather outside the party headquarters. They were addressed by party officials, who dismissed the disciplinary committee as a "kangaroo court".

“We have gathered here in defence of the revolution. We have gathered here in defence of Malema,” one unnamed ANCYL member from North West province said. “We are here to say ‘no retreat, no surrender’.”

Political commentator Kiru Naidoo said the committee's decision to press ahead with the charges showed a strength in the party leadership uncharacteristic of late and put Mr Malema "on the back foot".

"The youth league's nuisance value to the ANC is that it can call its troops out onto the streets and create real trouble," he said.

"That is something that has shaken the ANC but you have to measure that against its resolve to have the youth league account for bad behaviour and take action against it."

Mr Malema is next due before the committee on Monday, where he and his colleagues will be asked to enter pleas.